The Business Value of IoT

Getting ahead on competitors with predicting behavioursThe Internet has already started moving from the cyber to the physical world, thanks to the Internet of Things, or IoT. A two-way street now exists between the microprocessor, connected sensors and actuators, allowing both the measurement and modification of the non-digital world, respectively.

Already, IoT has begun to influence consumer, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure projects, and according to Bruce Sinclair, author of “IoT Inc.: How your Company Can Use the Internet of Things to Win in the Outcome Economy”, IoT will eventually be as transformative as the Internet itself.

So, where’s the business value of IoT?In short, just about every industry can benefit – from fleet management, health care, insurance and risk assessment, manufacturing and production, oil and gas, agriculture, and mining, smart public transport, to power distribution within cities. If incremental improvements or rapid decisions can be made using real-time data, analyzed with historical data, potentially external sources then IoT can demonstrate a positive return on investment (ROI). Predictive maintenance is another huge area for IoT solutions.

But where to start?Every organization, whether for- or not-for-profit, can start with a workshop with key business stakeholders to identify lowest hanging fruit for a PoC. When the Business objectives and KPI´s are defined, a low-cost PoC can quickly be arranged by using existing or low-cost sensors connected directly to the cloud or to a simple computing device like Raspberry Pi, Asus Tinker Board or similar. With a designed dataflow, secure communication and connection to an IoT Platform in the cloud, the key elements are in place.

Now, rather than relying on anecdotal evidence from salespeople on the ground, Businesses can utilize accurate and impartial IoT generated data to measure, analyze and predict results. This simple and to some extent, inexpensive technology could ultimately have a huge profitable edge over neighboring competitors.

Your business will become more efficient.From start to finish, your internal and external processes will begin to be more like-minded and efficient. A variety of sensors will allow you to capture all relevant data, compute locally with Edge Computing and transport the data to a central Cloud solution for further computing. Then you have the option of combining historical data, external data sources and advanced cognitive analytics to release the power of your data. The end result will enable you to do more informed decisions, alert you of unexpected or unwanted behaviors, predict optimal maintenance cycle for each individual component etc.

TCO and RoI.IBM Watson, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google, Oracle provides all solid IoT Platform solutions, with unique characteristics and price models. The variety of models and price models makes it challenging to calculate the correct TCO based upon your future needs. Invest therefor time early to make sure you chose the optimal vendor for your solution, with the right price indicators and services. The differentiation in pricing models and capabilities makes it difficult to compare “apples and apples”.

Next step:If you’re the CEO of your own business or are part of a small business to a larger corporation, you want to increase your business value by creating new revenue streams, increasing efficiency or reducing cost. This can be achieved by generating value from your sensor data. By gathering IoT data from your assets, buildings, machines or other devices you will keep up with the latest technology and intertwine with your macro and micro business goals and objectives.

Get a head start on your competitors with IoT solutions while providing services and responding to customers’ current and future demands. Specifically, End-to-End IoT solutions with data flow from sensors to predictive analytics and the combination of historical and live data.